The only child of the union of George, then Prince of Wales, and Caroline of Brunswick (1768–1821; DNB). Her parents separated at her birth and Charlotte was thereafter often used in their ongoing battles. She married Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (1790–1865) on 2 May 1816. They established their home at Claremont, near Esher, Surrey. She died in the early hours of 6 November 1817 after delivering a stillborn son and was buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 November. Her death was the subject of national mourning and also precipitated a rush to the altar amongst her bachelor uncles in an attempt to produce a legitimate heir to the throne. In his role as Poet Laureate, Southey celebrated her marriage in The Lay of the Laureate (1816). He commemorated her demise in ‘Lines written upon the Death of the Princess Charlotte’ and ‘Funeral Song for the Princess Charlotte’, both written in late 1817, but unpublished until 1828 and 1829 respectively.